I noticed that Folk Trax has some good piping CD's that don't seem to be available anywhere else (such as the McPeake family, and some of Seamus Ennis).
Has anyone ordered from here? What's your experience been, in terms of sound quality of recordings, length for shipping (to the US), etc.? I once emailed them with a question about their recordings, but never got a reply. And are all their recordings on CD? It's a great site in terms of the old photographs, and detailed descriptions and track listings of the albums-perhaps the prices and format must have been on another page that I skipped over.
Feel free to PM me if any responses may be controversial.
thanks,
Baen
Has anyone ordered from Folk Trax?
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Kevin L. Rietmann
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There are a few previous posts on this forum and the Irish Trad forum about Folktrax and its owner, Peter Kennedy, who's been recording various kinds of music since the late 40s, I believe. Read those to see some of the allegations levelled against him. These are pretty ugly in some cases.
It's a shame, the piping CDs I've bought have some classic stuff. I have been pondering reviewing these records for the Pipers' Review, but feel ambivalent about it; apparently no one gets any money out of it except Peter, and from the sounds of things he doesn't deserve any more. The packaging is minimal; he sends you the CD with the catalogue number written on it with a Sharpie felt tip pen, and the CD liners are simply printed B&W pages which you insert into your jewel box. The CDs had an occasional glitch, a second or two missing, indicating Peter isin't dubbing his reel to reel tapes with a program with a sufficient memory buffer (this has happened to me occasionally, it's a setting problem in the program I use to capture audio from cassettes or LPs). So, pretty cheap for your 10 Pounds sterling, and you'll be charged $15 to $20 for a banker's draft or traveller's check in the states. On the plus side, the CDs arrive very quickly; he just packages them in a squarish envelope and sends them as a letter.
Like that, others can elaborate on this if they so choose.
It's a shame, the piping CDs I've bought have some classic stuff. I have been pondering reviewing these records for the Pipers' Review, but feel ambivalent about it; apparently no one gets any money out of it except Peter, and from the sounds of things he doesn't deserve any more. The packaging is minimal; he sends you the CD with the catalogue number written on it with a Sharpie felt tip pen, and the CD liners are simply printed B&W pages which you insert into your jewel box. The CDs had an occasional glitch, a second or two missing, indicating Peter isin't dubbing his reel to reel tapes with a program with a sufficient memory buffer (this has happened to me occasionally, it's a setting problem in the program I use to capture audio from cassettes or LPs). So, pretty cheap for your 10 Pounds sterling, and you'll be charged $15 to $20 for a banker's draft or traveller's check in the states. On the plus side, the CDs arrive very quickly; he just packages them in a squarish envelope and sends them as a letter.
Like that, others can elaborate on this if they so choose.
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Baen
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Kevin,
I must have read some of those posts, since there's a familiar ring to what you say. Well, I guess I'll have to wrestle with my conscience at this point. Too bad one person can corner the market like that, although I suppose if they're his personal recordings then not much can be done.
thanks for the feedback,
Baen
p.s. If he ships them in an envelope, what keeps the CD's from getting broken in transit?
I must have read some of those posts, since there's a familiar ring to what you say. Well, I guess I'll have to wrestle with my conscience at this point. Too bad one person can corner the market like that, although I suppose if they're his personal recordings then not much can be done.
thanks for the feedback,
Baen
p.s. If he ships them in an envelope, what keeps the CD's from getting broken in transit?
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Kevin L. Rietmann
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